MRT: Folks in Bkt Bintang see red

Lot owners are unhappy with the last-minute MRT notice, telling them to make way for the project's development.

KUALA LUMPUR: Shop and house owners in Bukit Bintang soon to be affected by land acquisition for the My Rapid Transit (MRT) development are up in arms over the project.

Twenty lots would be affected by the MRT’s track alignment, which would run underground from the planned Bukit Bintang Central station to the Pasar Rakyat MRT station.

Like the Chinatown MRT saga earlier this month, many landowners here were only officially notified of the acquisition at the last minute.

Handicraft shop proprietor Colin Yong was one of those who protested.

“Can you do the tunnelling but I can continue with my business and keep the land for my family?” he asked Prasarana project development group director Zulkifli Mohd Yusoff during a public briefing at Prasarana’s Bangsar office here. (Prasarana is the MRT’s current project owner.)

Yong was concerned with the government-linked company’s decision to acquire his land, which would result in his eight-year-old shop being demolished to make way for the MRT.

Prasarana reasoned that KL’s soil – consisting of limestone rock – was unpredictable and not safe for buildings.

This response disappointed the shopowner, who later told FMT that he only received the acquisition notification two weeks ago.

“I’m very disappointed … (Even though) they are giving us compensation, we can’t buy another land (here in Bukit Bintang),” he said.

It was also revealed that hearings concerning the Bukit Bintang land acquisition would take place after Sept 5.

The government, in its spearheading of the MRT project, embarked on land acquisition in order to clear the way for the upcoming 51km Sungai Buloh-Kajang rail line.

With around 9.5km of these tracks being underground, the MRT’s proponents turned to the Land Acquisition Act 1960 to get hold of the land.

Citing soil unpredictability, they said that buildings atop bored tunnels would have to be demolished.

Predictably, this revelation came as a shock for many businesses and housing areas affected by what appears to be Malaysia’s largest infrastructure project to date.

Many claimed to have owned the lots for decades and were reluctant to give up their land in the oldest parts of the capital.

‘Putting the cart before the horse’

Representing at least nine lots in the area, lawyer Jason Ng asked why the MRT’s owner was looking to acquire all of a property’s land, even though the tracks only affected parts of it.

“…other pieces of land, only 31% (of them) needs to be acquired but the authorities took the liberty to acquire all (the land),” he told Prasarana.

Ng accused the MRT’s backers, as well as the government, of “putting the cart before the horse”.

He said the government should have planned land acquisitions and other matters “years ago” instead of the last minute.

Adding to this was Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, who was there to lend support to the lot owners affected.

Fong argued that Prasarana and the government did not need to use the Land Acquisition Act when it could have used the National Land Code (NLC) 1965 instead.

Citing a 1990 amendment to the NLC, he said the law allowed the government to bore tunnels under the surface without acquiring the land.

Prasana: Put it in perspective

Local shopowner Foo Wan Kian raised an interesting point about his land marked for acquisition.

In ownership of two plots of land for over 40 years, Foo asked Prasarana if it was possible for lot owners to own shares in the MRT, since their land was to be used for this project.

“The original owner should have a little bit of share to buy some units or some shops (where the underground MRT station is to be built.

“On my piece of land, I hope the government can consider the opportunity (for us) to develop (together). I’ve owned this land for so long,” he said.

Answering, Zulkifli said that only “reputable developers” could share with the development of MRT stations.

“(When it comes to) co-development … of course we will do a joint development with reputable developers around KL and around the country,” he said.

He also extended an invitation to Foo on the condition that the lot owner was a “reputable developer”.

Zulkifli later explained that Prasarana was trying to minimise as much land acquisition as possible and pleaded with the lot owners to put the MRT “into perspective”.

“It’s (the MRT) for all of us, for you and me and our children to have efficient public transport,” he said.

He also dismissed talk that the acquired lots were to be used for property and disputed Fong’s argument pertaining to the NLC.

“The current National Land Code does not allow underground land (to be developed) without any other purpose than acquiring the land,” he said.